1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an article of manufacture, and more particularly to a decorative article of manufacture, e.g., a medallion, emblem, decal, sticker, etc.; and to methods of manufacturing such articles.
Typical decorative articles of manufacture and manufacturing methods therefor to which this invention is related are those disclosed or referred to in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,087,570; 4,100,010 and 4,139,654.
A typical decorative article of manufacture consists of a substrate upon which indicia, such as a decorative design, letters or a trademark, are printed or painted and upon which a transparent cap in the form of a convex dome is bonded to provide a magnifying lens effect. Articles of this type may be attached to the variety of products to provide a visually attractive identification of the product or its manufacturer or to convey information about the product's operation; the articles are also used as an end product or decorative device, per se. The indicia may include an emblem, trademark, artistic design and names. With suitable indicia and artistic designs such articles are also used as jewelry, key rings and for the decorative enhancement of other products.
Typically, the substrate is a metal disc or body of plastic material such as vinyl or polyester, the indicia is formed by printing, stamping or painting, and the cap is a body of cast polyurethane.
Still, more specifically, the present invention is an improvement over the prior art method of making a decorative article of manufacture or emblem disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,010 and the article made thereby. In such prior art method of manufacture a flat foil shape, e.g., metal disc, is provided having sharply defined peripheral sides which intersect with the top surface, the foil shape is supported on a surface free from surrounding side walls (i.e., no mold or cavity is provided to receive the cast liquid cap material, e.g., polyurethane) and a measured amount of plastic composition such as a polyurethane in liquid form is cast on the top surface of the foil shape and forms a positive meniscus, the plastic composition is cured to give a magnifying lens effect to the top surface. Since no mold or cavity is provided to receive the liquid plastic composition, the flat foil shape being supported on a surface free from side walls to obtain a meniscus contiguous of the peripheral sides requires use of a precisely controlled amount of plastic sufficient to flow out to the sides without overflowing them. This method requires careful control of the amount of cast plastic and the shape of the foil sides. Since the decorative article must be relatively free from defects for sale, the requirement of precisely controlling the amount of liquid plastic cast and the requirement of sharply defining the foil sides add undesired cost to the method of manufacture and hence to the decorative article itself.
Accordingly, it is the general object of the present invention to provide an improved article of manufacture and an improved method of manufacturing such article.
It is the further object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing a decorative article of manufacture where the amount of liquid plastic cast requires less precise control than the prior art and the shape of the peripheral sides of the substrate requires less control or definition; and to provide a new and useful decorative article of manufacture which may be made by such method of manufacture.